The Tucson real estate market is internally inconsistent in terms of whether or not it has entered a full-scale recovery. Different sectors of the market are recovering at different rates of speed, and some are not recovering at all. In general, the commercial sectors of the Tucson real estate market are still struggling against high rates of foreclosure and default, while the residential portion of the market is tending towards some positive signs of a possible recovery. It is difficult, however, to discern what statistics indicate exactly what in the larger scheme of the nationwide recession and economic downturn, simply because so many portions of the crisis are literally unprecedented. Statistics that should have indicated a definite floor turned out to be just the beginning of the drop.
For example, the commercial portion of Tucson real estate has fallen considerably in terms of sales and prices, although experts do not believe that a bottom has been reached. According to a July 22, 2009 article in The Explorer, “With the commercial real estate market in decline, many people wonder if it's hit rock bottom. Not by a long shot, according to the folks at Tucson Realty and Trust. Tucson Realty and Trust offered its mid-year report last week, when company representatives gave their predictions for the local commercial real estate market. According to prognostications, a wave of foreclosures similar to that left people in the home market drowning in a sea of debt and creditors scrambling for the lifeboats is pressing down on the commercial market.”
An article in the Arizona Daily Star noted that, for the residential portion of the real estate market, the pressure of impending foreclosures is so great that it is forcing new home builders to lower their prices drastically just to keep up. According to an online article by Tucson news station KOLD 13 published on July 15, 2009, “Real estate analysts say some sectors of Tucson market improving. While they predict a 'tsunami' of defaults in the commercial real estate market later this year, real estate analysts for Tucson Realty and Trust say there are signs the residential housing market may have hit its bottom locally.”